Plastics pose a major threat to seabirds and other animals, and most don't ever break down - they just break up. Every piece of petrochemical-derived plastic ever made still exists on the planet.

A man stretches his leg on the bank of the Han River as a ship passes by amid thick haze. Tens of thousands of premature deaths in east Asia every year are caused by shipping pollution.
REUTERS/Stringer April 10, 2017

A new documentary highlights the plight of marine animals living among the estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic rubbish generated by humans.

Popular tourist destination Kuta beach in Bali, Indonesia, is regularly covered in waste, most of it plastic that washes ashore during the rainy season. This picture was taken on February 15, 2016.
Wira Suryantala/Antara/ReutersMarch 8, 2017

Dave West from the environmental group Boomerang Alliance told Fairfax that if you've got an average seafood diet in Australia, you're probably ingesting about 11,000 plastic pieces a year. Is that right?

The Curtis Island gas precinct is one of the biggest developments along the Great Barrier Reef coast.
AAP Image/GreenpeaceMay 28, 2015